Time Out, London, April 24 - May 1 2002, Sarah Kent

Hardcore

The Romans invented it, the Victorians despised it, we depend on it. ‘Hardcore’ celebrates concrete, the most versatile material in town. The first all-concrete house was built in Kent for cement manufacturer John Bazley White in 1835. When the Frenchman Francois Hennebique found a way of reinforcing it with steel, this stronger, more flexible material was soon being used by engineers to build bridges and docks. Because concrete takes any shape or form, Victorian architects considered it morally dubious, though – a material with pagan associations that should be hidden behind wood or stone. Its bad name was compounded by buildings from the 1920s and ‘30s, often made with poor-quality concrete that weathers badly and looks dismal when wet.

The technical section of ‘Hardcore’ is the most interesting. Concrete is an aggregate of sand, cement and gravel. Replace the gravel with steel pellets and you get Heavicrete, a dense material used for bank vaults and nuclear power stations. Reinforced with wire mesh, by comparison, Lunar concrete is as light as a feather. A good radiation shield, it is perfect for moon structures. Noxer paving converts the nitrogen oxide from traffic fumes into harmless nitric acid that is easily washed away by rain. For decorative effect, crushed glass adds green or blue sparkles, and recycled TV screens a silver sheen. The architect Piers Gough has disguised the material with camouflage colours and MUF have laced it with oyster shells. The objects on show may be undesirable – Willy Guhl’s loop chairs are hard and grey; Maya Lin’s elliptical seats colourful yet cold – but concrete is definitely entering an exciting new phase.